Rallying around Pacquiao
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 04 Apr 2012
Two Former senators, a former two-division world boxing champion, two Olympians and a pro-basketball great cast their lot with embattled boxing icon Manny Pacquiao in the Pacman?s fight versus charges of discrepancies in his recent tax payments.
Both former lawmakers Nikki Coseteng and Freddie Webb deplored the Bureau of Internal Revenue?s premature announcement of the alleged discrepancies without first ascertaining the facts.
?For one, there?s a big difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance,? Coseteng, who represented Quezon City in both the Lower House and the Upper Chamber one after another in her lawmaking days, stressed.
?It could be that it was Pacquiao?s accountants who made the mistakes, wittingly or unwittingly. Alam na naman natin magagaling ang accountant gumawa ng paraan kung paano mababawasan ang babayaran without really intending to cheat,? the first and only woman to own and manage a professional basketball team, added.
?So announcing and insinuating that Pacquiao cheated and tried to evade paying taxes is rather premature. Singling him out in the first place leaves a bad taste in the mouth, isn?t it?? Coseteng remarked. ?Ang dami dyan gumagamit ng expertise para mababa ang bayaran, malalaking tao din, pero di ina-announce. Si Manny ibinalita agad.?
?Manny, as has been said over and over again, is a national treasure who should show good example sa mga Filipino. He is a role model and to brand him as tax evader, marami talagang madi-disappoint at magagalit sa gobyerno,? Coseteng explained.
Webb, former national player, coach and another congressman to rise as a senator, felt the World Boxing Organization welterweight champion and the only man to win eight world titles in as many weight divisions might have been a victim of a ?big fish? used a sample to show the government?s determination weed out the system of shenanigans.
?There should be no sacred cows,? Webb said. ?Kung may kasalanan, dapat magkaroon ng penalty. But, kung wala at gusto lamang sampolan, that?s bad. The accuser, in this case, must suffer the consequences.?
For Gerry Penalosa, one of few Filipino fighters to win more than one world crown, the BIR should have given Pacquiao more time to present the documents agency needed to scrutinize before publishing the charges.
Shooting Olympians Joey Mundo, a former commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission and Oying Miranda as well as former Department of Education official Len Toledo smell vindictiveness as reason for the charges.
Businessmen-sportsmen Anson Tiu Co and Des Bautista of Baguio City, Isagani Maghirang of San Pablo City, PBA Great Philip Cezar and sports columnist Al Mendoza believed the government should have respected Pacquiao?s status as a world boxing icon by not airing the investigation.
Business columnist JB Baylon, former PSC chair Philip Juico, Philippine Olympic Committee vice president,former amateur boxing association head Manny Lopez and rowing association head Benjie Ramos, for their part, assured there was no vindictiveness nor harassment in the BIR action.
?As a national icon, Manny has the added burden of trying to remain above reproach," Baylon said. ?He should always be prepared for the extra intensive scrutiny of everything he says or does.?
?If Manny has to comply with BIR regulations, then let him set a good example by doing so,? Juico said. What the BIR is doing is asking him to submit certain documents. There?s no political vendetta nor harassment.?
First Filipino and Asian Chess Grandmaster Eugene Torre advised Pacquiao and the BIR to find a win-win solution on what he termed hullabaloo to erase the damage done to the country and the ring hero himself.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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